Rotary printing press



Jan. 3, 1939. G. J. PRAGER 2,142,148

ROTARY PRINTING PRESS Filed Nov. 25, 1936 F .INVENTOR 6E0R E J PRHQER Patented Jan. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROTARY rnmrnvo PRESS George J. Prager, Bayshore, N. Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Printcote 00., Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application November 25, 1936, Serial No. 112,690

5 Claims. (01. 101-154) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a rotary printing press.

The invention proposes the use of an intaglio operated roller to apply inks, such as oils, water colors, Rotogravure, anilines, lacquers, varnishes,

pyroxilyn, bronzes, micas, various adhesives and other existing colors and materiaisto the printing roller or printing plate or printing element of a rotary surface printing machine.

According to this invention the particular type of intaglio roller is no limitation. It may be engraved with various designs, screens or patterns; it may be a pad screen finish; it may be'a halftone finish and other known finishes. The printa ing roller is also not limited to any specific design or construction and may be molded, hand out, fixed or loose on a printing drum.

No claim is made to have invented a new intaglio printing system, but this invention does claim the use of, the intaglio method to apply the inks, etc., to the printing cylinder, printing plate, printing blanket; or other'printing element, and upon the printing surfaces of relief printing, in a rotary printing machine.

' -It is pointed out that this invention basically differs from intaglio printing in that the intaglio roller does not'come in contact with the material to be printed; but merely is utilized to supply,

ink, color, or coating materials to the printing element, which in turn comes into contact with the material to be printed.

The instant invention is also distinct from offset printing in which the inked printing form.

is transferred to a smooth blanket (not engraved) and then the complete inked form transferred to the material to be printed. With offset printing an intricate and complicated timing mechanism is required. According to the instant invention,

as previously pointed out, the intaglio roller 40 merely supplies ink to the printing element and does not itself contribute to the actual printed germ as it appears on the finished printed maerial.

The invention also proposes a method and construction which permits the printing of especially long units of a design or printed material which may then be repeated any number of times. Heretofore it was customary to fixedly attach a printing element on a printing drum and the length of the element was limited to the circumference of the drum. This invention proposes the provision of a loose printing element which engages over the drum and which hangs down and therefore may be of any length. For example, with a. printing drum of 12", which heretofore would limit the length of a printed unit to approximately 36", with the instant invention it ispossible to use a 12" drum to print units of say, 40 or etc., without limitation, and only limited by market demands. a

An important advantage gained by this invention in applying the inks, etc., by an intaglio roller to the printing element-is that then a pre-determined amount of color or material may be applied to the printing surface. Heretofore, by the use of transferring rollers the ink which was applied to the printing element was but poorly controlled. Provision was made to adjust the .pressures between the transferring rollers, but

there was poor control. By using an: intaglio roller which has its ink controlled-by a blade, the control of ink 'toth'e printing element is dei"inite.-

Another and very important advantage-of this invention is that a much 'cleaner. printing job is produced. The reasonfor this is that the inks, etc., maybe supplied in correct quantities. Heretofore it was customary to supply'more ink than was actually needed and for this reason the finished printed form had a backwash; that is, at the point .where the printing form or element left the material being printed there was extra deposit of ink which could easily be seen even upon casual inspection of the printed material,

Another very important advantage gained by this invention is the' economical application of solid coating of color with colors and material heretofore diflicult to handle in producing solid effects.- The reason for this advantage is the better control of the ink, etc. supplied to the printing element.

Another advantage of this invention resides in the fact that the setup may be done much more quickly than heretofore;

Another object of the invention is the construction of a device as described which is simple and durable and which may be manufactured and sold at a reasonable cost.

For further comprehension of the. invention, and of the objects and advan ages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawing, and to the appended claimsjn which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawing forming a ma- Fig.- la is a fragmentary side elevational view 5 l6 out of contact with the printing element i2.

similar to aportion of Fig. 1 but illustrating another embodiment of the rotary printing press.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of the intaglio roller illustrated with a magnifying glass thereon to clearly show the engraved or other design thereon.

' Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view of a piece of printed material. I

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of another arrangement of a rotary printing press embodying this invention.

The rotary printing press, according to th invention, comprises a frame Ill upon which a printing drum ii is rotatively supported and which in turn supports a printing element l2. The particular printing, element shown on the drawing is an endless blanket. The lower portion of this blanket is shown supported on a guide roller I3 which is mounted in an adjustable bearing l4 supported on the vertical members l5 of the frame of the printing press. It is possible to substitute printing blankets i2 of various lengths for the one shown on the drawing. In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1a a different blanket has been substituted in the machine to indicate that blankets of various lengths may be used. In this figure, the blanket indi: cated by reference numeral I211, is much .longer than the blanket 12. The bearing I 4 has been shifted to a new position, alowered position with respect to that shown in Fig. l, to cooperate with the long blanket l2a. In other respects this embodiment is identical to that shown in Fig. 1, and the identical parts may be identified by similar reference numerals.

A pressure drum I6 is adjustably mounted on the printing frame I and is cooperative with the printing drum II and the printing element l2 to supply the necessary pressure to print a web of paper I! passing between these parts. The ink or similar material'is supplied to the printing element l2 by an intaglio roller l8. This intaglio roller has a conventional intaglio blade I9 cooperative therewith. The intaglio roller I8 is shown in contact with a furnishing roller 20 which engages into an ink pan 2|. Any number of furnishing rollers may be interposed between the ink pan and the intaglio roller l8, or the intaglio roller may be" engaged directly into the ink pan.

The intaglio roller I 8 is mounted upon a bracket 22 which is slidably mounted in a standard 23 mounted on the frame ll of the printing machine. The bracket 22 is controlled by a screw 24, by which the pressure between the intaglio roller l8 and the printing element l2 may be adjusted. The furnishing roller 20 is mounted in a bracket 25 which is slidably supported and controlled by a screw 26. A conventional handle control eccentric 21, not shown in detail on the drawing, is provided for moving the intaglio roller l8 out of contact with the printing element I2 without disturbing the adjustment of the screw 24.

The pressure drum I6 is slidably mounted in a standard 28 and is controlled by a. screw 29.

There is also a handle controlled eccentric 30, not

shown in detail, for moving the pressure drum without disturbing the adjustment of the 29.

The details of the eccentric controlled handles 21 and SI! and the details of the brackets which are moved by the screws for pressure'control,

f'etc will not be given in this specification as they "form no part of this invention and similar conshown engaged over the roller I 8 to make clear the design thereon. Numeral 32 indicates the design which may be an engraved or hand out screen or pattern design, etc., as before mentioned. The intaglio blade I9 is of conventional construction and shown provided with a counterweight 33 adjustable on a radial arm 34 connected with the intaglio blade by which the pressure of the intaglio blade against the intaglio roller may be controlled. I

Other details of the printing press will not be given in this application since they form no part of this invention and since prior constructions are generally known. For example, the means for driving the various rollers are not shown.

The operation of the device is as follows:

The intaglio roller I8 receives its ink or similar material from the furnishing roller 20 which works in the ink pan 2|. The intaglio blade I9 cleans all excess ink from the intaglio roller 18, if properly adjusted. The amount of ink left depends entirely on the depth of the intaglio engraying. If it is desired that the intaglio roller transfer a large quantity of ink, a suitable design of greater depth capable of retaining a larger quantity of ink should be used. To transfer a small quantity of ink, a fine design should be used. The intaglio roller then lays the ink upon the printing element I 2.

to the printing element [2. Of course, the en-- graved or other printed form on the printing element I2 will be printed on the web IT.

Fig. 3 shows a sheet of material 34 which is printed with a solid color 35 indicated by cross hatching, and several letters 36 are printed in reverse. In the old methods of printing there will be a back lash of ink (shown by a heavy line on the drawing) along the tops of the letters 36, these tops being indicated by the letters a. There will also be a back lash along the area b and also a back lash along the area c, all shown by heavy lines. This back lash is formed by too much ink being on the printing element and this ink being squashed out along the edges of the printing .element under pressure required for printing. Then a well of excess ink is deposited at all engraved areas. With the instant invention this back lash .is eliminated clue to the fact that only as much the printing drum and printing element. A web of paper II passes betweenthe pressure drum and the printing element. An intaglio roller l8 engages against the printing element l2 at an area where the printing element is forced against the printing drum II. This intaglio roller l8 has a cooperating intaglio blade 19'. The intaglio roller I8 is shown disposed directly in an ink pan 2|.

The operation ofthe device shown in Fig. 4 is identical to the prior form. The intaglio roller I! will print upon the printing element l2 which is loose upon the printing drum ll so that it may be of any desired length and not controlled by the diameter of the printing drum. The inked printing element l2 will print on the web I'I'. I

While I have illustrated and described my invention with some degreeof particularity, I realize that in practice various alterations therein may be made. I therefore reserve the right and privilege of changing the form of the details of consetruction or otherwise altering the arrangement of the correlated parts without departing from the spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a rotary printing press, a frame, a form supporting roller mounted on. said frame, a flexible form element engaging over'said roller and having its bottom portion loosely and freely depending, a pressure drum adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperative with the top portion of said flexible form element, and an intaglio roller adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperative with the side portion of said flexible form element which is adjacent said form supporting roller.

2. In a rotary printing press, a frame, a form supporting roller mounted on said frame, a flexible form element engaging over said roller and having its bottom portion loosely and freely depending, a pressure drum adiustably mounted on said frame and cooperative with the top portion of said flexible form element, an intaglio roller adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperative with the side portion of said flexible form element which is adjacent said form supporting roller, vertical track members on said frame, bearings adjustably mounted on said track members, and a guide roller supported by said bearings and engaging through the lower portion of said flexible form element for guiding same.

3. In a rotary printing press, a frame, a form supporting roller mounted on said frame, a flexible form element engaging over said roller and having its bottom portion loosely and freely depending, a pressure drum adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperative with the top portion of said flexible form element, an intaglio roller adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperative with the side portion of said flexible form element which is adjacent said form supporting roller, vertical track members on said frame, bearings adjustably mounted on said track members, and a guide roller supported by said bearings and engaging through the lower portion of said flexible form element for guiding same, said track members being located adjacent to the ends of said form supporting roller so that said flexible form element may extend down between said track members. a

4. In a rotary printing press, a frame, a form supporting roller mounted on said frame, and a flexible form element engaging over said roller and having its bottom portion loosely and freely depending.

5. In a rotary printing press, a frame, a form supporting roller mounted on said frame, and a flexible form element engaging over said roller and having its bottom portion loosely and freely depending, and a pressure drum adjustably' GEORGE J. PRAGER. 

